ABSTRACT
With Edward's succession to the throne in 1042 and his coronation in 1043, Godwin must have thought he had once again done well. The Old-English royal dynasty had been restored after a gap of some 26 years. It was, as Vita declares, the English nation's jubilee. 1 And the displacement of the Danish line had been achieved without much wider disturbance. To judge by the attestations to royal charters there was massive continuity in the personnel at court from Cnut's reign into Edward's, and the names of the royal counsellors had remained almost exclusively English. 2 Godwin himself exemplifies the stability; and once again he had been the prime mover.
